One of the central issues of the Catalan independence trial is the idea of violence, needed by legal definition for rebellion, the most serious charge facing the prisoners. One of the key events in that idea for prosecutors is the protest that took place on 20th September 2017, ten days before the referendum, as Civil Guard searched the Catalan economy ministry.
A number of Civil Guard vehicles left outside the department that day were damaged. Originally they were said to be three; prosecutors have since given numbers as high as seven. Now it turns out that not all of the damage recorded was due to demonstrators. That was the surprising revelation of agent B35974S, in charge of the team's security, responding to Jordi Sànchez's lawyer Jordi Pina today.
Pina's question: "When you left the ministry, in the small hours of the morning, to go up to the police vehicles, did you use a mace to break any of the windows to verify what was inside the police vehicle?". The agents response: "Yes, two". Among the things left inside the unguarded vehicles that day were firearms.
Pina emphasised, as he did last week, differences between the agent's testimony now and what he'd said during the investigation phase. In particular, with regards to their descriptions of insults and threatening gestures from protesters.
The defence also contrasted the very high levels of risk described by the police with the fact that painters and decorators continued working as normal in the building. They also highlighted the dialogue between Sànchez, Jordi Cuixart and the head of the police team, who they even gave their phones to.